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Museums

Bucyrus Museum

Bucyrus Heritage Museum :: South Milwaukee, WI

Graef and Continuum Architects joint venture, Milwaukee, WI

Prior to the sale of the mining equipment giant Burcyus to, the Caterpiller Company, an on site tribute heritage museum was constructed. This museum is open to the public and is the cornerstone of a new public outreach program.

A 1920′s manufacturing area was completely refurbished to accommodate 20,000 square feet of rotating museum exhibits. Lighting was designed to accommodate permanent exhibits and rotating exhibits. Both existing lighting equipment and new lighting equipment were incorporated into the space. Custom designed chandeliers where manufactured and installed to represent the Bucyrus signature gear design.

The museum’s upper level was dedicated to a historical library and a tribute to Bucyrus’ community service. The remaining 2 floors were dedicated to manufacturing process, scaled models of mining equipment and full size examples of enormous assembly pieces. A portion of the ground floor is equipped with a children’s play area complete with scaled models of mining equipment.

Racine Zoo

Large Cat/Primate House :: Racine, WI

Kahler Slater Architects, Milwaukee, WIJanica Yoder

The decaying Racine Zoo Cat/Primate House underwent a complete facelift. All animal exhibits were redesigned and re-lit.

The program criteria were based on the occupant’s requirements. The toucan’s beak needed to be tanned and the lions needed to bask in the mid-day sun, without disturbing the nocturnal lemurs. Accent lighting was incorporated into the public spaces to produce drama and a sense of adventure for the human visitors.

Lighting instruments were positioned carefully to reduce glare for both humans and animals.

Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center

• Selected lighting equipment and light sources to complement Interactive Exhibits, History Center, Historical Archives including Genealogical Research and Local History Reference Collection of manuscripts, maps, textiles and scholarly research
• Designed and specified new equipment to achieve optimal viewing conditions with minimal damage to art work as well as general building lighting
• Considerations included Correlated Color Temperature, Color Rendering of art work, restriction of UV and IR non visible radiant energy, restricted brightness on displays, and illuminance levels during viewing and non-viewing hours